Monday, January 6, 2014

Tombow L102 Multipen

A few weeks ago, Tombow contacted me, and asked me if I wanted to review one of their latest products : the new Zoom L102 multifunction pen, and who would I be to say no to that, right?

I was able to choose between four juicy colours: a turquoise-like green, dark blue, gold and pink. I went for the green one, and I think it looks very nice, it's a shiny, bright-coloured pen!

The body and grip section are made out of annodized aluminium, so I was quite surprised when I found out that the front piece isn't. I don't really understand why they decided not to make this out of aluminium too, because even the threaded section of this front piece is made out of Aluminium! I should give it some credit though, it took me quite a while before I figured out that it was made out of plastic, it is almost exactly the same colour and texture as the body of the pen, so it didn't really bother me, but it would have made this pen feel a little more 'premium' if it was actually a full metal build.

The clip is made of a folded sheet of metal with a matte finish. I would have preferred a solid metal clip, which looks a bit prettier, but it does it's job and it actually feels quite sturdy!

Underneath the push button, you can find a small eraser. It does a decent job at erasing small mistakes, but I would suggest keeping a full-size eraser handy for more serious erasing!

The L102 packs quite a few features, but still remains quite thin and fairly light. Most multipens have a tendency to rattle because of the mechanism, and this one is no exception. I personally don't think this is a huge deal, it's more like a compromise between functionality and solidness!

It comes loaded with a black and red ballpoint refill and a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. The pencil refill looks a bit different than some other multipens I own, so I'm not sure if there are replacements available for that one, but the ballpoint pens can be swapped out for any D1 refill you want. And even better (for all those OCD people out there, including me!) The pen functions aren't colour coded, instead they have a symbol (I always hate inserting a blue refill into a slot that has a red colour code on the barrel!)

symbols indicate the different writing tools,the
pen is retracted by pushing the silver button next to the clip.

The refills that come with the pen are actually very good, I really enjoy using them! The ballpoint pens leave a very fine line on the paper, but they are still very smooth and I didn't experience any blotting or skipping. These Tombow refills can be bought separately as well. Which is great because I really like them, which says quite a lot, because I normally don't really like this kind of refill! The pencil works fine as well, it comes with a few leads that are quite smooth. The pencil tip looks like a mixture between a normal mechanical pencil and a drafting pencil, so it can be used for both writing and drawing as well as technical drawing (though you should keep in mind that the pencil obviously doesn't have a fixed sleeve, so it does wobble a bit).

The Tombow L102 is a definitely a good pen for it's price, at around 30 Euros/ 45 USDollars (I'm not sure about the American MSRP!) The fun colours make it a great pen for students, but I would suggest it to anyone who wants a multipen. As it is a good alternative to the more expensive Lamy Accent if you don't feel like spending 80-90 USDollars on a pen!

Note: I received this product at no charge, but the opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Some people might have a different opinion about some things, that's why reviews serve only as a guideline,